…Holland and Springfield Township Recollections
Editor’s Note: This story was submitted by the Holland-Springfield-Spencer Historical Society president Karla Miller.
Lady Ditch Cleaner
A recent article in a newspaper on ditch maintenance and flooding brought back some flooding memories to me–pardon the pun.
In 1875 my great great grandparents Fred and Amelia Hecht bought the property at 1302 Holloway Road in Holland. They owned from the railroad tracks to Airport Highway. This is about the section
This is about the section from the railroad tracks to Wolf Creek at the end of Hall Street. The Drennan Ditch came from the north of Holland along Clark Street onto the property and down to Wolf Creek. Most probably do not remember that back then Holloway Road was a steep hillside.
At the railroad crossing on the west side the drop from the roadway to Drennan Ditch was 20 feet, and this tapered in our front yard to a 12 foot drop off the roadway.
Traveling towards Hall Street and Wolf Creek it became less. On the north side of the railroad tracks alongside Drennan Ditch was the Holland town dump, which is now the baseball field.
In 1949, the Hecht’s great granddaughter Doris Barker and her four children ages 10 to 13 moved from Hall Street to the farm on Holloway Road.
In 1950, the Lucas County engineers decided to install tile from Railroad Street to Wolf Creek and filled in the front yard portion to bring it to street level.
The problem was when Drennan Ditch flooded the dump, all the rubbish washed downstream blocking the tile. In an attempt to alleviate the problem, the county put iron grates across the two large tiles to catch the debris. There was a concrete dam three feet from the grates with a two foot drop which allowed the debris to really pile up against it.
Well this created even more of a problem for both the county and Mrs. Barker. I always thought the gates should have been placed on the north side of the railroad tracks against the railroad tile where it would keep the junk where it belonged, in the dump site where village maintenance could take care of it.
By 1951 Lucas County found it too expensive to keep bringing in equipment to clean and haul away all of the rubbish. Fred Watts a county engineer decided to hire Mrs. Barker to keep the ditch clear and stop the flooding for $50 a year, the minimum amount the county was allowed to spend for ditch cleaning.
Thus, Mrs. Barker became the first and only “woman ditch cleaner” in Lucas County. Ma Barker and her gang soon had the job systematized. The county and village officials all agreed that the job, especially during the spring rainy season, was worth more than $50.
During the spring flood season, Mrs Barker and her crew would clean out debris in the front yard six to eight time a day. Just about everything possible came down the ditch and blocked the iron grates. The cold winters brought a break with a hard freeze. The solid ice would temporarily bring a halt to the tin cans, Christmas trees, old lamps, tires, ironing boards, and much more from accumulating at our doorstep.
One year it brought two laundry tubs, soggy davenport cushions, tree stumps, lumber, and only once did they ever get something usable–that being a doghouse for the family dog Penny.
After retrieving the junk, it was piled up, allowed to dry and set on fire.
In 1957, when the Blade picked up the story, it had been six years, and the Holland Dump was about to close for good, solving the problem.
Mrs. Barker submitted her annual bill to the county, and Mr. Watts did not even ask for an itemized list. A long time ago he became convinced that a woman ditch cleaner’s work is beyond price.
This ditch problem took seven years of my childhood, but I have to admit I did enjoy watching and waiting–part of the time to see just what lodged up against the iron grates each time we had to clean it out.
It was hard work as we battled the current it caused in the rushing water when things were dislodged and the tile was opened up.
I agree that if people would keep the small ditches alongside of their property cleared away it would cut the cost to the county.
